Refrigerating apparatus



Patented Sept. 11, 1934 UNIT-latoI STATES PATeNr oFFlcE REFRIGERATINGAPPABATUS Leroy W. Shutts, Detroit, Mich., assigner to Frigidaire Corporation, Dayton, Ohio,

poration of Delaware Appliction october 31, 1931, serial No. trasse the vehicle is driven for causing operation of the'A refrigerating apparatus.

Further objects and advantages of the inventionwill ,be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein a preferred, form of the present.

invention is clearlyshown. v

1n the drawingzu- 1 f Fig. 1 discloses a{ somewhat diagrammatical view of a 'refrigerating' system constructed vandapplied to an airplane in accordance with my` 1 tially uniform low temperature.

invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-f2 of Fig. 1 showing the arrangement of a condenser in a housing through which air is caused to flow;

and

Fig. 3 is a view, taken in the direction of the arrow designated at 3 in Fig. 1,.of the means for driving the compressor andthe housing in which certain elements of a refrigerating system are located.

In carrying out the object of my invention I make use of a compressor-condenser-expander type refrigerating system and I provide means.

' whereby the liquefying unit of said system is opcabinet 1l.

erated economically and efficiently by the ow of air past the vehicle in which the system is installed.l

Referring' now to the drawing and particularly to Fig. 1 I have disclosed for the purpose of illustrating my invention a portion 10 of the body of an airplane or the like of any suitable construction and having an insulated cabinet 11 positioned in the body portion loof the airplane and preferably in the galley thereof. The cabinet 11 ls l utilized to store comestibles or the like which are' to be cooled and served or served direct from the cabinet for consumption by the individuals being transported by the airplane. Since'these comestibles are desired to be maintained in a fresh condition and since they must be prevented from deteriorating or spoiling I dispose an evaporator" or cooling unit 15 of a refrigerating system in the The evaporator 15 is operatively connected with a refrigerant liquefying and circulating unit including a compressor 16, a condenser 1'7 and a liquid refrigerant receiver 18. The

' method of producing refrigeration in the evapora- (not shown) tor 15 during operation of thev refrigerating sys-i terny is. conventional and comprises evaporating refrigerant of the system in the evaporator 15, withdrawing the evaporated refrigerant there- Vfrom through conduit 19 by the compressor 16 and again compressing the same, circulating the compressed refrigerant through the conduit 21 to the condenser 17 for cooling and liquefying the same. lThe liquid refrigerant is then stored in liquid receiver l18 preparatory to being again cir- 65 culated to evaporator 15 through the conduit-22. An expansion valve 23 of any suitable construcj tion whichv is throttled or actuated into open or Aclosed position by a thermostat 24 responsive to y the temperature of the evaporator 15 is employed 7 to. automatically admit liquid refrigerant, when i required, from the conduit 22 to the evaporator 15 for maintaining the evaporator .at a substan- Compressor 16, condenser 17 and receiver 18 75 y 'are all disposed on the exterior of the body portion 10 of the airplane and are mounted in any suitable manner in a casing 26. This casing 26 is shown as mounted on the body portion 10 of the airplane but it is to be understood that it can be located on a wing of the airplane or wherever desired. Casing 26 is formed into a cigar-shape so as to have: a so-.called stream line appearance which offers a minimum of resistance when being moved through the medium traversed by the vehicle or airplane. In orderv to provide for economical operation of the refrigerating system and particularly the operation of compressor 16 I mount the vcompressor 16 in or at the front portion ofthe casing 26 and form the Walls of the 90 i compressor to correspond .to the general outline of the casing 26. Compressor 16 can be of any suitable design for instance it may be of the reciprocal typey crit maybe of a gear or lrotary vane'type. vrrespec tive of the particular construction ofV the compressor, suitable for use in my apparatus'all auch compressors usually include some sort of-afdrivejshaft. In the lpresent embodiment of thelinv'en tion the compressor includes a-drive shaft 28 ex-v n101); tending therefrom and connected with the refrigerant compressing means within the compressor* A means foroperating the coin'- pressor 16 is provided in `the form of a propeller or fan 29 secured to the compressor drive shaft 28. The propeller or fan 29 is adapted to be actuated by the movement ofA a fiuid such, for example, as air in the embodiment shown and described.v The ,fan 29 operates the compressor during movement airplane is being flown. The condenser 17 may likewise "be of any suitable construction and is arranged preferably within the casing 26. Casing 26 has a plurality of louvers or openings 31 formed in its top portion and a plurality of similar louvers or openings 32 formed in its bottom wall portion. The condenser 17 is positioned within the casing 26 so as to be in the path of air moving over and through the propeller or fan 29 and circulated into the casing 26 to the louvers 31. The air after traversing the condenser 17 flows from the cas'- ing 26 through the louvers 32 in the bottom wall thereof.

The compressor 16 is obviously operated continuously by the propeller or fan 29 as long as the airplane is in flight but it does not continuously compress refrigerant contained in the system unless the temperature of the evaporator 15 is above the desired limit and expansion valve 23 is open. Such continuous operation of the compressor if not compressing refrigerating liquid merely creates a vacuum in the evaporated refrigerant conduit or low pressure line 19 of the'refrigerating system. Compressor 16 may have an unloader, of any conventional type or design, incorporated therein or connected thereto and actuated when the vehicle or airplane is stopped for a considerable length of time. The use of the unloader is obviously desirable to those skilled in the medium is employed to drive the compressor and to cool the condenser of the refrigerating ap- Consequently the refrig-4 paratus. Thus the refrigerating apparatus needs driving the compressor which motor must be supplied with power from a source of energy such, for example, as a storage battery or a generator. Therefore the apparatus for producing refrigeration in the vehicle or airplane vis simplied and reduced in elements and consequently the weight thereof is minimized thus reducing the load carried by the vehicle or, airplane. It is also apparent that my invention provides a refrigerating system which is economical in operation and which will readily start' operating when the vehicle or airplane isput into motion after stopping at designated terminals or the like for considerable lengths of time.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that (other forms might be adopted, all coming Within the scope of theclaim which follows.

What is claimed is as follows:

Refrigerating apparatus comprising in combination, a. vehicle including a body having an insulated compartment thereinto be refrigerated, an evaporator of a closed refrigerating system disposed in said compartment for cooling the same, a condenser connected .to said evaporator, a compressor exteriorly of said vehicle body and operatively connected to said evaporator and to said condenser, means operated by the air through which the vehicle passes for driving the compressor, a torpedo-shaped or stream-lined casing exteriorly of said vehicle body and enclosing said condenser, said casing having air inlet openings in one wall thereof and air outlet\open ings in another wall thereof for permitting the vno artificial source of power such as a motor for A through said casing and over said condenser.

LEROY w. sHUT'rs. 

